


Before the Storm

by Angelwingsl3 (Marie_Fanwriter)



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Feels, Friendship, Gen, ME3, Mass Effect Big Bang 2018, Midnight musings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-14 02:33:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14760938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_Fanwriter/pseuds/Angelwingsl3
Summary: In war there are so few moments of quiet. A moment of friendship on the Normandy.





	Before the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the art-piece embedded below by the lovely Vonubervald.

\- - -

The ship was running silent.

It was a little warm in the cockpit, as it always was when the stealth drive was engaged. Environmental controls needed to be turned down to a minimum to ensure their signature remained as small as possible. As such, the air smelled a little stale and the constant hum of the drive core was the only sound. Jeff inhaled slowly, deeply in through his nose and out through his mouth. It was the briefest of reprieves, he knew it, but that didn’t change the sweetness of the moment. He savoured it, like a cold beer after a long day in the flight sims.

They were waiting. It seemed like that was always the way for the _Normandy_ crew. This time at least, he wasn’t completely alone. The crew was all aboard the ship with him while they were standing by for the Salarian Dalatrass’ ship to join them at the rendezvous coordinates. This Summit could be the best, or worst -his mind helpfully added-, thing to happen to the war effort.

Waiting was always worse when the squad was ground side. When it was just him and EDI waiting yet again for Shepard and the team to return. Mars had been like that. With barely enough people aboard to man the ship, it had been a stressful couple of hours. Palaven had been worse. The moment of panic when EDI went dark had been terrifying, like when the IFF had triggered an ambush all those months ago. Jeff was just happy that this time, it wasn’t as bad as that disaster.

It wasn’t as though he minded it being just him and EDI anymore, the AI had grown on him over the past year. She, not it, was no longer considered ‘ship cancer’ in his mind. EDI was his friend. Just as Shepard was, or Tali or… well, any of the _Normandy_ crew really.

That thought made the pilot pause. It had been a long, long time since he had friends to call his own. His next inhale was more a snort than a breath as he laughed to himself. No. He’d never had friends at all before. Sure, there had been his dad and Hillary. But they were family. ‘Are family,’ He corrected himself internally. It didn’t matter that he’d yet to hear from them.

They were alive. Somewhere.

“Careful, Joker-”

Jeff jolted a little at the dual-toned voice coming from behind him, Garrus was silent on his feet as he’d ever been and at his startlement, the turian cut off his half-joke. The pilot only half turned in his chair to greet him. “Damn it, Garrus. Don’t you know sneaking is bad for my health?”

“Sorry,” the sniper hummed in reply as he moved further into the cockpit. It wasn’t often in the past that the turian would venture out of his little hidey-hole in the main battery, and when he did he usually stayed standing, holding the wall up with a casual lean. Today, however, he sat down.

Joker watched on as Garrus took the secondary cockpit seat, EDI’s platform was off helping Adams with the engine for the moment. She was still there, in a sense, but without the physical unit, it was easy to forget. He’d become used to her all too quickly. The sniper was dressed down for once, in a simple pair of under armour pants with bare feet and a muscle shirt that looked suspiciously similar to the one he’d seen James wear from time to time. It was modified, of course, to fit a turian, but that made the pilot all the more suspicious.

“Is that Vega’s?” he asked with a raised brow, pointing at the shirt casually before looking back to his haptic interface to check the ship’s indications.

The smallest of small smirks appeared on the turian’s mandibles as he looked down and plucked the fabric with bare talons. “What, this? No?”

Jeff’s shoulders shook just a little as he stifled a laugh. He let it drop. This wasn’t the first time Garrus had been pulled out of a bad situation with nothing more than the armour and weapons on his back. At least this time he’d found a way around it.

“Just waiting on a coat of sealant to dry,” Garrus explained to fill the void. “It’ll be good to go by the time we hit the next relay.”

“Mhm.”

For a while, the pair sat in silence, just as the pilot had been before his turian friend arrived. It wasn’t uncomfortable he found, looking out at the big black with the sounds of another next to him. EDI didn’t fidget at all, that wasn’t to say that Garrus made much noise either, but the occasional shift of the leather seat as he adjusted himself or the scrape of talons on plate when he scratched at the scared side of his face reminded Jeff what it was like to work in close proximity to others. It was so infrequent in his line of work that it took some getting used to.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Garrus asked him eventually, breaking the quiet again.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a nod. The brim of his hat covering the view of the nebula outside for a moment before he leaned back in his chair and took in the purpling darkness again.

It was honestly quite the sight. The Eagle Nebula was just two jumps away from the Krogan DMZ. Once the Dalatrass was aboard, they’d be heading to Serpent which was far less pretty a sight in his opinion, and Joker had seen nearly the entire Milky way in his years with Shepard. The few holdouts were places like the Perseus Veil, and no one dared venture into Geth space.

There was a brief moment of fabric shifting as the sniper sat forwards in the chair, leaning with his elbows on his knees. “Don’t see much of it from the battery.”

“I suppose not. Is that why you’re up here?” Jeff glanced across towards Garrus for a moment before shifting his eyes back outside. He looked grim.

“I guess.” His left shoulder rose ever so slightly before dropping back down. The shrug, however small, translated across species lines. Or maybe Garrus had picked it up in C-Sec or back on the SR-1. The turian had been working with humans a lot longer than most.

The pilot’s eyes narrowed for a moment. This wasn’t typical Garrus behaviour. “You uh… up here for something else?” he asked with only a hint of hesitation. It wasn’t really his place to ask, but he supposed that someone had to. Why not him?

Garrus’ gaze drifted towards him. There was a question sitting there. It was almost as though he was trying to decide whether or not he wanted to tell the truth or just leave. The pair of them had never been the best of friends, but at the least, they had both been there since the beginning. They’d seen the fall of Saren and the Geth, both felt responsible in their own way for Shepard’s death, they’d helped bring down the Collectors and now here they were once again.

Jeff met his eyes and waited.

“Have you heard from your family yet?” Garrus’ voice was quiet, thoughtful.

Regardless, the pilot was taken aback. “What?”

Garrus’ mandibles tilted into a grimace as he stood up. “Sorry. I just…”

“No. No, I haven’t.” He answered quickly before the sniper had a chance to leave. “Have you?”

Garrus shook his head once. “Not since before the Reapers hit. They were on Palaven. Near Cipritine. I did everything I could, but dad and Sol were there. I didn’t think...” he cut off before he could explain anymore and fell back into the chair. One of his hands rubbed his eyes for a moment before sliding backward along the length of his fringe.

“My Dad and Sister live on Tiptree. It hasn’t been hit, but I haven’t received a message yet. I think the comm buoys are still messed up in that sector, could explain the problem.” Jeff explained in response to Garrus’ plight. There was still a burning question in his mind though, he couldn’t help but ask it. “Why ask me?”

It didn’t take Jeff long to figure out why once he’d voiced the question aloud. Garrus’ sad little smile was enough to explain it all. Shepard didn’t have a family. Neither did Liara. He didn’t know this crew very well. So, naturally, it came to him. “Ah.”

“Yeah.” Garrus’ tone wasn’t unkind.

“Not sure if we should keep our hopes up or not.”

One of Garrus’ massive hands wrapped around the back of his neck as if to rub some of the tension out of it. “I know that feeling.”

The pair went back to staring out the viewing port once again. Silence took over and somehow it still wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable. Just like the nebula, it just was.

\- - -

\- - -

**Author's Note:**

> It was nice to focus on a fic without a relationship. I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
